


The Angel and his Treasure

by Sephirotha



Category: Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Genre: F/M, Romance, Temporary Amnesia, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-27
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-27 18:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/982349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephirotha/pseuds/Sephirotha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She haunted his dreams.  He summoned her to come by his side.  Their memories have been wiped but will they still find romance between them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter I

Sephiroth’s eyes snapped open when he saw the pair of burning red eyes again. He sat up and regained his bearings. Looking up at the empty darkness above him, he didn’t bother watching the green energy that was the illusion of the Lifestream. He couldn’t find it. The memory from where the eyes had come from. Those eyes had haunted him since the first day he remembered being in this world, fighting for the god named Chaos. There was no-one significant on his team with eyes of blood nor were there anyone on Cosmos’s side that had those brightly coloured eyes.   
The Cloud of Darkness, he accused them for poisoning his rest with awful visions of blood, fire and an alien feeling within his chest. They denied it of course and Sephiroth concluded that he had little evidence to prove that she was responsible for his disturbed sleep. Ultimecia, a witch but a witch of time, not of dreams. She couldn’t be responsible for his unwanted visions. Sephiroth’s instinct told him that it was a woman he was seeing, even though he could only see her eyes. He could also hear her. Every time he would see those eyes, he could make out broken words from a woman’s voice.  
Then in the ninth cycle, he saw a new addition to Cosmos’s team. Tifa Lockhart, they called her. She was a martial artist and she was from his world. So he approached her, crossed blades with her and took a good look over her. She was very feminine for her age and she showed impressive strength. She had red eyes like Sephiroth had envisioned but they weren’t as bright as he had seen. No, this wasn’t the woman who haunted his sleep. She didn’t have the spark of naivety or youthful aura around her. She was more mature, stronger. So he defeated her ruthlessly and walked off, feeling rather frustrated.  
During the tenth cycle, there was a rumour that Cosmos had a new warrior that wasn’t fighting. In fact, this warrior was secret to even the rest of Cosmos’s team. It seemed that she was working as a strategist and designing armour and weapons for the team. Sephiroth listened closely to Locke describing this girl. He was lucky enough to even sneak into the enemy’s base to get a glimpse of this warrior. Chaos seemed interested to see this warrior’s abilities too and Sephiroth felt frustrated when Locke only described her as a young cute girl. He confronted the thief later, asking for a more accurate appearance. Locke estimated that she was about sixteen and she had long black hair. He didn’t get a chance to see her face.  
Sephiroth dreamed of those haunting eyes once more when he was slipping out of consciousness when Cloud had defeated him.  
“Sephiroth,” that naïve voice said his name.  
Sephiroth wanted to see more of her. All he could take from this girl was the bright blood red eyes that looked up at him, the smell of apples coming from her and her laughs. They weren’t laughs out of spite, sadistic pleasure nor malice. A true genuine laugh of happiness. This girl seemed to be bright and positive, like there was no war going on. Sephiroth was curious about what was making her so happy.  
“Sephiroth,” she spoke again and the eyes closed, her pale eyelids and eyelashes the only things he could see now “I miss you.”  
“If you miss me so much to haunt my dreams,” Sephiroth replied to her “Then come to me.”  
There was a gasp and the eyes opened, twinkling happily.  
*********************************************************  
Sephiroth woke up in water. Masamune was by his side which he quickly snatched and put her away in her sheath. He froze when he realised that he was not alone. He turned and saw a young girl unconscious near him. She had long black hair and pale white skin. She was clad in just black shorts and a red shirt that draped over her right shoulder. She didn’t wear anything on her feet apart from a gold anklet with a Gil coin attached to it. He slowly approached her and noticed a Materia bracer and a large baseball bat with nails sticking out of it next to her. A Materia bracer, she must be from his world. To his knowledge, the other worlds didn’t use Materia. When he got closer, he caught the scent of apples which seemed familiar to him but he didn’t know why.  
The girl stirred in her sleep as he carefully took her bracer and took a look at the Materia inside. It was pretty basic since it was the start of the cycle. There were five slots, containing Fire, Lightning, Ice, Earth and Restore. The girl moaned and she opened her eyes, looking up at Sephiroth.  
“Who are you?” she asked and lifted herself up into a sitting position.  
Sephiroth looked at her and saw her blood red eyes. He felt that this girl was significant to him but he didn’t know why. He placed her Materia bracer down.  
“My name is Sephiroth,” he said “I’m a warrior of Chaos.”  
“Sephiroth…Chaos…” the girl looked down as she slowly processed the information then looked up at him “My name is Anne Lockhart.”  
“Are you with Cosmos or Chaos?” Sephiroth asked.  
“I don’t know.”  
Sephiroth sighed and stood up.  
“What do you remember about yourself?” he asked as he picked the baseball bat up and fingered it gingerly.  
“I…I…I’m sixteen and I design weapons and armour.”  
Sephiroth looked down at her lazily and helped her up.  
“I think you’ll be a useful asset to the Chaos warriors,” he said and handed her the bracer and bat “Come with me.”  
Anne looked at the bracer and bat before snapping the bracer on and taking Sephiroth’s hand. As they walked, she idly swung her bat back and forth, their feet making small discrete splashes in the water. Sephiroth didn’t know why, but he squeezed her hand gently and she squeezed back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anne's stressed with working for Chaos

Anne watched expectantly as Garland took up his new weapon that she improved and spent hours on. Her hands were singed slightly and her face was covered in dirt. She wiped her brow and watched Garland test out the new features to his sword. After five minutes, Garland just walked away. Anne furrowed her brow in frustration.  
“What, not even a thank you?” she spat in contempt.  
Garland stopped and turned to her.  
“…Your talents are very useful.”  
And he disappeared around the corner. Anne sighed and fell onto her bench.  
“Sheesh, would it kill to even say thank and you together?” she asked to the wall in front of her.  
She curled her knees into her chest and wiped away the tears from her eyes. Here she was, in the lair of Chaos. Cooped up just around the corner where she had her tools and materials to make weapons and armour. There wasn’t even a sink where she could wash the dirt off her hands and face. There was absolutely no-one that appreciated her efforts. She even went the extra mile with some weapons when an upgrade idea occurred to her. Only Sephiroth seemed to stop by to give her food and spend five minutes with her before leaving. Anne yawned tiredly and rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes to drift off to sleep.  
“Get up, girl.”  
Anne winced when something hit her calf sharply and opened her eyes, glaring at the emperor who towered over her with an unfriendly sneer.  
“What do you want?” she asked tiredly.  
“My boots are worn out. Make me another pair.”  
Anne snarled and got up, gesturing for him to sit.  
“In my world, we say please,” she spat as he seated himself on the bench and bent down to measure his boots.  
Mateus said nothing, just watched Anne take note of his measurements then taking off a boot to examine it.  
“Oh, I see how they got worn out easily,” she sighed and tapped one of the boots “They’re made out of gold. Very weak.”  
“Well? What are you going to do about it?” Mateus snapped at her.  
Anne’s brow twitched as she looked up at him.  
“I’m going to make a better pair of boots so you won’t come back so soon,” she snarled as she got up and grabbed her hammer.  
She grabbed her supply of diamonds and got to work rather vigorously, taking her anger and stress out on every strike she made to weld the diamonds into boots for the moody emperor.  
“I must say, I’m impressed that a woman like yourself is capable of blacksmithing.”  
Anne paused to turn and glare at him.  
“I see that in your world, men were sexist to women,” she snarled and kept working.  
In a couple of hours, Mateus was admiring his new boots and simply stalked off without even giving Anne a compliment. Anne slammed her hammer into her anvil in frustration before flopping back onto the bench for a quick nap.  
“Oh sleeping beauty!” a high-pitched voice called “Wakey wakey! Or do I have to kiss you to wake you up?”  
Anne jolted upright to a sitting position.  
“Oh! Never mind!”  
Kefka cackled as Anne rubbed her eyes and glared at him sleepily.  
“What do you want?” she growled.  
“I just thought that perhaps a little change in the clothing should do!” Kefka sat next to her and clapped his hands “Come, come now!”  
Anne stood up.  
“Stand so I can take your measurements and examine your armour!” she snapped.  
“Ooo~! Is someone on their period?”  
Anne raised her nailed bat, which sat neatly in the corner, as a warning. Kefka stood up, holding his hands up to calm her down and she placed her weapon down to start measuring him. She frowned as she took a handful of his shirt and examined it.  
“Are you really only wearing a poncho?” she asked “I think a bard’s tunic should help out a bit more, let me get my materials together…”  
“Hey, if you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?”  
Anne nearly dropped some cloth at the statement and looked at him.  
“Excuse me?” she asked with narrowed eyes.  
“If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?”  
Anne remembered Sephiroth telling her to not bother making sense of Kefka’s words but Anne really wanted to answer him.  
“Because no-one appreciates me here,” she said as she sat down and got to work sewing up a bard’s tunic for the insane mage.  
Kefka began rambling and cackling about something as Anne furiously stitched and sewed the bard’s tunic she had promised him. She winced as she accidentally pricked her finger.  
“She pricked her finger!” Kefka shrieked “Is Sleeping Beauty going to fall asleep now?”  
Anne snatched her bat and raised it at him.  
“Please, toots!” Kefka scoffed “You don’t have the guts to use your little play toy!”  
Anne’s brow twitched and she took a huge swing at him. Kefka howled as he jumped, only getting scrapes from the deadly sharp nails.  
“OK! OK! I’ll shut up!”  
He hopped away as Anne placed her bat down and continued sewing. It seemed hours for poor Anne but after a half hour of dedicated sewing, Kefka was prancing off in his new tunic, leaving the poncho behind. Anne sighed exasperatedly and collapsed onto the bench, carefully examining the poncho to see if she could maybe use the material for something else.  
“Excuse me, um…”  
Anne looked up and saw Kuja standing at the foot of her little territory. She placed the poncho down.  
“It’s Anne, would you like my help?” she asked politely, not really expecting a polite response.  
“Uh, yes actually,” Kuja walked over to her and looked down at her “May I ask your opinion?”  
“Um…sure, I guess,” Anne shrugged.  
“Do these boots match my outfit?”  
Anne blinked and looked down at them.  
“They look a bit worn,” she said “I could make you a new set which can match your outfit just as well.”  
“I asked if they matched or not, dear,” Kuja sighed as he tossed his hair.  
“But I…”  
Kuja simpered and petted her head.  
“You’re so naïve,” he said “Doing extra for the Chaos members will only make them trick and take advantage of you.”  
“But…your boots will wear out…” Anne mumbled and Kuja tittered.  
“You’re cute. I can levitate, I don’t walk much. They won’t wear out too soon.”  
Kuja’s feet left the ground as if to make a statement.  
“I’d do your best to make sure I’m not trampled if I were in your position,” he said “I’ll see you later.”  
He flew off, leaving a rather confounded Anne.   
“Anne, I’m back.”  
Anne’s eyes lit up as she saw Sephiroth approach her and ran up to him, giving him a big hug. Sephiroth was nice, he was friendly and apparently they’re from the same world. Anne sighed as she buried her nose into the leather of his jacket. She didn’t know why, but it soothed her. As if she had done something like this before. She gasped as Sephiroth hugged her back and stroked her hair.  
“Sephiroth, is something the matter?” she asked carefully but Sephiroth just hugged her tighter.  
He picked her up and reclined on the bench, leaning against the wall for support. He held Anne in a protective embrace and stared ahead in thought. He sighed and closed his eyes, remembering the memories he had just recovered…


	3. Chapter 3

Sephiroth fingered the small red ribbon that he had found on his walk the other day. The ribbon was so small and looked so delicate in his hand, the very hand that wielded Masamune to slaughter so many people and monsters. He stood in the fragment of the world that was the Lifestream, watching the green energy that spiralled upwards and into the darkness above. If he brought the ribbon close enough to his face, he would smell the familiar scent of apples. It wasn’t the scent that had triggered the memories within his mind, it was the battle against the gunman from his world.

************

Sephiroth deftly dodged the bullets as the blur of red that was his opponent put distance between them. He managed to conceal himself in a hiding spot behind the gunman and approached him quietly. It was when he leapt and pierced Masamune into the gunman’s shoulder, he remembered. He killed a young woman in a pink dress by thrusting this very blade into her body. He remembered the shriek of agony and despair and turned his head to see…her. Anne was in the same room, her face full of shock and horror which somehow hurt Sephiroth’s chest. Sephiroth shook away the memory quickly and stumbled away as the gunman tore himself away then retreated. But as he saw the blood that dripped down his blade, another memory hit him quickly.  
This time, they were in an office. His office. Sephiroth was…he was tying a small bandage around a tiny index finger. Anne’s finger. Sephiroth never noticed how small Anne’s hands were. Anne gave him a warm smile and hunched her shoulder shyly.  
“Thank you,” she uttered.  
“Be careful next time,” he replied.  
“Sephiroth, relax. It was only a paper cut.”  
“Paper cuts can be lethal.”  
Sephiroth heard Anne’s laugh and he was shocked to think he had forgotten that delicate laugh.  
“Sephiroth, I’ve suffered worse injuries whilst blacksmithing.”  
“Now you’re not blacksmithing for Nibelheim anymore, I refuse for you to get injured anymore.”  
Anne looked up at him with those curious red eyes of hers.  
“I’ve heard stories about the great Sephiroth,” she said “I can’t believe you’re him.”

************

Sephiroth clenched the ribbon tightly.  
“That’s because I don’t want you to know the real me,” he said to the emptiness as if talking to that Anne.

***********

It was a wonder why with all the clanging and banging Anne had to do whilst preparing armour and weapons, she wasn’t deaf. Her hearing was just as sharp as a rabbit’s so when she heard the sound of boots turning the corner to her little spot she snarled, mistaking them to be the Emperor’s. She had enough of him coming round and demanding something to be enhanced every single fricking day.   
“I don’t want to tend to your whims today, Emperor,” she snarled without turning her back “And no, I won’t give you permission to do your own fricking armour, even if you seem pretty incapable of blacksmithing!”  
“Actually, I’d rather ask for forgiveness rather than permission if I was the Emperor,” a cool voice that was certainly not the Emperor’s answered her.  
Her cheeks burning, Anne turned on her heel and looked up at Noctis who kept a stoic face. She bit her lip and hunched her shoulders.  
“What do you want?” she asked.  
“Don’t you get claustrophobic here?” Noctis asked as he looked around the little armoury.  
“No but it is boring to see the same three walls every day and see the same people,” Anne muttered.  
Noctis rolled his shoulder once then extended his hand out. Anne jumped back and eyed it warily.  
“I’ll take you out for a little walk,” he proposed “I’m sure no-one will mind too much.”  
“But…Chaos…”  
“It doesn’t matter, he won’t kill you just for taking a fifteen minute break.”  
Anne looked around the armoury and looked at Noctis.  
“I can really leave?”  
Noctis nodded and Anne took his hand, letting him lead her outside.

**********

Noctis watched as Anne dipped her feet into the river and sighed softly. She hummed and began splashing softly, enjoying watching the ripples travel across the river. She looked around and grimaced at the bleak atmosphere of the Chaos territory. Noctis agreed with her mood, it wasn’t the nicest of environments but there was still cool refreshing water and clean fresh air to indulge in. Anne sighed again and leaned back on the bank.  
“Thank you for taking me out here,” she smiled warmly and Noctis just shrugged.  
“You looked pretty bad, I’d rather have a sane person handling my armour and weapon.”  
He stroked the handle of his blade thoughtfully and for a brief moment, their red eyes met. Anne smiled again and Noctis remained expressionless. They didn’t say anything much but Anne did something that caught Noctis off guard. She grabbed her top, pulled it over her hand and threw it at Noctis. Noctis stumbled as the red fabric covered his face and some leather black shorts landed on his feet. There was a splash and Noctis dared lift the shirt up and saw Anne swimming around the river naked.   
“What are you doing?” he asked as he raised an eyebrow.  
“Taking a bath, what do you think?” Anne smiled and tilted her head to the side “Do you want to join.”  
“…No.”  
Noctis avoided to stare as Anne kept on diving then surfacing, washing the dirt off her body. And it wasn’t long until Sephiroth spotted them on his way back from the Cosmos territory, his eyes holding a possessive glint.  
“Caelum,” he said coolly and snatched Anne’s clothes up “I’ll take those and you may leave.”  
Not wanting to cause a fuss, Noctis left. Sephiroth turned to Anne who walked up onto the bank, apparently not that bothered about her nudity.  
“Sephiroth, did Noctis have to leave?” she tilted her head curiously.   
Sephiroth avoided staring at Anne as he took his coat off and used it to cover her.  
“Yes, he needed to leave,” he replied “But I’m here now. Why don’t you tell me about your day?”  
When Anne’s face lit up, Sephiroth couldn’t help but smile down at her. She was his Anne after all.


	4. Chapter IV

Anne found herself napping on her bench again when she was shaken awake. She blinked blearily at the figure looming over her and yawned.  
“Sorry, how can I help you?” she murmured whilst rubbing her eyes.  
“I would like to have a check over my armour,” an unfamiliar voice informed her.  
Anne looked up at the man before her blinked in confusion.  
“I haven’t seen you here before,” she commented as she stretched her arms.  
“I haven’t found the need to come here before.”  
Anne looked the man up and down then saw his massive black sword. Seriously, why were all the weapons so extravagant? Anne coped with managing Masamune and Garland’s sword but this sword was rather intriguing. She then realised she had to check this man’s armour, rather than his weapon and sighed, getting up to her feet.  
“Well, there doesn’t seem to be much tear or wear…”  
She came across a rather jagged accessory attached to his wrist. She yelped when it snapped off with a soft tug.  
“Ah! Don’t worry! I’ll get it fixed, I’ve got the right materials…”  
She turned her back and shuffled through her box of materials. The man observed her coolly, arms folded as he waited patiently. Anne found the leather, the colour slightly off but it would do because of the lack of resources she could scavenge around in Chaos’s territory and began cutting it. The man sat down on her bench as she stitched his bangle, or whatever it was, up then fixed it back onto his wrist.  
“There, is that alright?”  
The man ran a hand along it, admiring her handiwork.  
“I suppose it will do,” he commented as she began checking the rest of his armour.  
“Well, everything else seems fine,” Anne when she finished by his boots then looked up “Oh, wait.”  
She stood and gingerly touched his bandana.  
“A tear, I’ll just stitch it up…”  
“It’s fine, it won’t be necessary,” the man said.  
“No, it’ll be a quick job,” Anne insisted as she grabbed her sewing kit and began threading the tear together.  
The man’s purple eyes looked up at her, watching her nimble, burnt fingers patch his bandana up. He parted his lips softly as Anne’s youth reminded him of someone special from his own world. He blinked when Anne pricked herself by accident.  
“Damn, that’s a bit much,” she muttered when she began bleeding “Might have pricked a vein.”  
She grabbed her medical kit and began fumbling for something to stop the bleeding. The man stood and crouched beside her, taking a bandage roll and helped tie it around her finger. Anne stared down at the little bow he made and sighed.  
“Now that wasn’t really necessary,” she said.  
“Even the smallest of wounds can threaten a life,” the man said as he stood.  
Anne blushed softly and got up, a shy smile on her face. She got the feeling that this sort of thing had happened before but couldn’t remember. Suddenly remembering that she had a client, Anne shook her head and glanced his blade in awe.  
“Your world is so advanced, I’m impressed,” she said as she stood “I haven’t really worked with such sturdy materials.”  
“It’s interesting, meeting people from different universes,” the man looked up at her as he sat back down on the bench “isn’t it?”  
“Well…I’ve only met a handful of people,” Anne shrugged “Most of them just come and go. Sephiroth is very nice and friendly but he’s from my world. Kuja is interesting but doesn’t come by often to talk. He more or less asks about how his clothes look on him. Kefka comes just to shout something which he thinks is witty.”  
“That clown is quite the character, isn’t he?” the man drawled and Anne groaned.  
“He’s a major headache, that’s what he is,” she mumbled “Can’t get much sleep because of him…”  
The man regarded her as she sat down next to him and propped her head up with her hands.  
“You know…they all have such interesting names,” she murmured “Ultimecia, Golbez, Exdeath…they’re so foreign and I’m brought back to the reality that I’ve been taken out of my own world just to help in the war of the gods.”  
“What’s your name?” the man asked.  
“Oh, my name?” Anne laughed “It’s plain old Anne. Anne Lockhart, began using the hammer when she was eight and broke her toe. But that still didn’t stop her from learning how to blacksmith.”  
“What inspired you to blacksmith? It’s an unusual profession for a young woman such as yourself.”  
“Hm…it might have been the sparks,” Anne said after a pause “And that the local village blacksmith looked so strong to wield such a massive hammer to forge blades that other strong men used for battle. I wanted to be strong with…him so I began helping out at the armoury. Nothing dangerous, of course, I was about ten years old so I helped with selling and buying stuff. I snuck in at night though, forging weapons by myself. I watched the blacksmith enough so I managed to make some form of blades and improved. A year later, I abandoned it but…I don’t remember much else. I have no idea why I stopped blacksmithing. Sure, it hurt a lot and I got yelled at for being so close to dangerous objects but I enjoyed it. Why…would I give it up?”  
“Well, you truly haven’t given it up if you’re here now with your own little armoury,” the man said after a pause.  
“I suppose…perhaps I continued it when I was older? I don’t remember…”  
“Memories return when you’re battling someone from your own world,” the man said “Don’t strain yourself to remember your past.”  
Anne sighed and hunched her back.  
“I want to remember,” she whined “I don’t even know much about my connection with Sephiroth, if I have one that is. But Sephiroth won’t let me go out and find someone to fight with and I’m too scared to go out on my own. I know I have my armoury but I want to know more about my past. About the people in my dreams…about my own world…”  
The man was silent for a while as Anne took her nailed bat and ran a hand down it, avoiding the sharp nails.  
“I understand how he feels,” he eventually spoke “He doesn’t want to lose you. It would be too painful for him.”  
“Yeah but I’ll be careful,” Anne protested.  
“How much do you know about fighting?” the man asked, cutting her speech off.  
Anne opened and closed her mouth before looking down.  
“I know a bit of magic and this bat is heavy enough to deal damage but not too heavy to carry,” she said sheepishly.  
“So hardly anything,” the man concluded and Anne nodded with a disappointed sigh.  
They sat in silence for a while, Anne rolling the bat up and down in her hands.  
“You never told me your name,” she said softly.  
“Caius. Caius Ballad.”  
“Another interesting name,” Anne smiled and leaned her chin on the handle of her bat.  
“Well, until the next time we meet,” Caius stood “I thank you for your help.”  
“Oh! You’re welcome!” Anne perked up in surprise and grinned happily.  
Caius returned her smile with a small one.  
“If there is anything I can do for you, let me know,” he said and began walking off.  
“W-Wait!”  
Anne ran up to him and grabbed his wrist, staring up at him with pleading red eyes. She opened her mouth to speak. She really wanted to explore Cosmos’s territory. There might be some materials there that would be useful and if what Sephiroth had told her was true…then there might be something that she could use to make him a small gift for being so nice to her. Swallowing, Anne nodded.  
“The next time you go into Cosmos’s territory…” she started with a soft stutter “please, take me with you.”  
Caius looked taken aback and turned to her fully.  
“I’m not sure if I should,” he said.  
“Please, I just need some materials that might be in that area,” Anne pleaded.  
“Tell me what they are and I’ll go to get them for you,” Caius offered.  
“That’s the thing, I’m not sure what they are or what they look like, I need to know what’s available in that area of the world…”  
Caius sighed and shook his head.  
“No, you shouldn’t put yourself at risk like that,” he said as he recalled a distant memory that haunted his dreams “You’re too young, you’ll put so much potential life at risk…”  
“I don’t care about any of that!” Anne protested “Please, it’s not for myself, it’s for Sephiroth. I…I want to make him something but I don’t have a good range of materials to use. Please, Caius…”  
“Please, Caius…”  
That girl’s voice again, it had haunted Caius ever since he woke up in the middle of the war. Staring down at Anne, he realised just how alike she was to…to that girl with the green eyes. Caius sighed and turned away.  
“I’ll think about it,” he said and marched off.  
Anne followed after him for a couple of steps, sighing softly in disappointment when she heard Kefka’s prancing steps in the background.  
“Oh, has someone been abandoned by their Prince Charming?”  
“Shut up, Kefka!” Anne snapped rather uncharacteristically and stormed back towards her bench “If you don’t want anything looked at, then leave, I’m tired and I want sleep.”  
“Oh, someone’s rather cranky today,” Kefka cackled and Anne closed her eyes.  
“Shut up…” she yawned and drifted off into the abyss of sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Anne was just trying on a dress which she had stitched for herself when Caius returned to her armoury.  It just so happened that the material she had used was white because she couldn’t find anything else.  Caius observed her spinning around then pulling the skirt of the dress down a bit.  It reached up to her knees at least, she must be really self-conscious.  With a satisfied smile, Anne reached over to the sandals she had put together with the dress and tried them on, huffing softly.

“I knew they would be too small,” she muttered after prying them off “Need more leather…”

Caius cleared his throat and Anne snapped her head up with a gasp.  She blushed in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, how long have you been there?” she asked timidly.

“Just a couple of minutes.”

“Oh, OK, let me just get changed and I’ll be with you in just a sec!”

Caius quickly averted his eyes when Anne pulled her dress off, exposing her nudity to the world.  Quickly and clumsily, she pulled on her shorts and top before turning back to him with a pleasant smile.

“How may I help?” she asked.

“I can take you to Cosmos’s territory for a while, you can study and scavenge any materials we find.”

Anne’s eyes bulged and she froze up.

“R-Really?” she asked excitedly “You’ll take me over?”

“For a while,” Caius nodded.

He stumbled when Anne launched herself and hugged him tightly.

“Oh thank you!” she cried “Thank you so much!”

Caius watched her break away from him and take her bracer and bat.  She eagerly skipped ahead of him, making him hasten his pace to steer her in the right direction of Cosmos’s territory. 

 

* * *

 

Forget slowing him down, Anne was tiring him out!  About half an hour of chasing after her, making sure she went in the right direction, abruptly halting whenever she stopped to scavenge materials and keeping an eye out for Cosmos’s warriors, Caius contemplated getting a leash for the hyper-energetic blacksmith.

“Eep!”

“Careful!”

Anne fell over another ledge and Caius snatched her wrist to stop her from falling.

“Ah, that’s a long drop!” Anne whimpered as she clung onto Caius’s hand.

“Don’t look down,” Caius instructed before heaving her back up.

She was more work than protecting Yeul!  Anne sighed as she brushed herself down.

“I’m sorry for causing so much trouble,” she murmured.

“I’ve dealt with worse,” Caius reassured her.

Anne looked around thoughtfully and ran up to the rocks, feeling around.  Caius watched as she began using her magic to get through the rocky wall whilst keeping an eye out for enemies.  He turned his head when he thought he saw a Chocobo then realised it was a human.

“Anne, we might need to go into battle,” he informed.

“Hm?”

Anne turned after retrieving the precious stone in the wall and stood, shoving it into her thigh satchel.  She readied her bat and bracer as she ran to join Caius in the upcoming battle.  The warrior had spotted them now, charging at them with his massive sword unsheathed.  Anne swallowed nervously as the distance was closed and their opponent’s blue eyes landed on her first.

“Anne?” he said with a surprised look.

Anne frowned up at the man.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

Caius raised his sword warily as the man took a step towards them.  The man looked at him before frowning at Anne.

“I suppose you don’t remember me then,” he said.

He turned his sword towards Caius and Caius narrowed his eyes.

“Anne, run back the way we came,” he instructed her “And please don’t fall off any more ledges.”

“But…” Anne protested.

“Go!”

Anne fled when their swords clashed and ran as fast as she could away from the fight.  She screeched to a halt and held her bat up when a woman who looked similar to her stepped into her path.

“Come on, Anne, let’s go!” she urged and held her hand out.

“Blizzard!”

The woman jumped back in surprise to avoid getting hit by Anne’s magic.  She frowned, placing her hands on her hips as Anne backed away.

“Anne, stop playing around, this isn’t the time for games!”

“Caius, we’re surrounded!” Anne squeaked as her back met his.

“Duck!”

Anne ducked as Caius swung his word around, hitting both of their opponents.  Anne turned and fired a Thunder spell at the swordsman.  She then lunged and punched the stunned blond before falling over backwards when a pain seared through her head. 

She was in a temple of some sort?  There was a lot of water and sun filtered through the ceiling.  That blond swordsman was standing in front of this woman…wait, she knew that woman.  Her name was Aerith, she knew her, she was a good friend.  Anne smiled when she saw her praying but that swordsman…he was going to kill her! 

Anne’s eyes flew open and she jumped up to her feet then kicked the swordsman in the nuts for good measure.

“Anne, come on!”

Anne took Caius’s outstretched hand and ran with him back to Chaos’s territory.

 

* * *

 

Tifa crouched beside Cloud as he groaned in pain.

“She always had a good kick,” he grumbled and Tifa giggled despite the circumstances.

The martial artist looked up at where the purple-haired swordsman and her younger sister had retreated and frowned.

“Why is she working for Chaos?” she asked “Anne’s too…nice to be working for him.”

“Probably got her memory wiped and someone from Chaos found her first,” Cloud muttered.

Tifa grimaced as she helped Cloud up to his feet.

“Let’s go after them,” she said.

“Wait, just the two of us?  The manikins get awfully stronger the deeper we go.”

“I can’t let him just take away Anne like that!” Tifa said, determined and ran off, leaving Cloud at a loss in what to do.

 

* * *

 

“We should be safe now,” Caius said as he let go of Anne and watched her flop onto the beach they were at.

Anne stretched her body out before emptying her contents of her thigh satchel.  She sighed happily as she sorted out what she had collected in between her breaths.  Caius ascended a rocky ledge to scour the area.  That martial artist had started chasing them but was held back by some manikins.  Caius wasn’t so sure how good she was but couldn’t promise that they’d be safe from harm for long.  He watched over Anne happily play around with her ores and precious stones like a little girl, holding some of them up in the air to examine them.  She turned to Caius and smiled.

“Caius, hold still for a minute,” she said as she got up and ran up to him.

She stood up on her tiptoes after pulling a needle and some thread from her satchel and began stitching eagerly at his bandana.  A new little string with a small precious stone attached fell next to his other accessories and Caius blinked.

“Thank you for taking me over,” Anne smiled “I hope it stays on, it’s poorly made for a field job…”

“It’ll stay on,” Caius reassured her and allowed a small smile “Thank you.”

Anne grinned happily and skipped back down to the beach to pack her materials back into her satchel.

“There you are, you silly girl!”

Caius and Anne looked up to see Kuja descend in front of the young girl, hands on hips.

“Sephiroth is searching the whole world for you!” he said “Did you know he accused me for upsetting you and making you run off?”

“Sephiroth’s looking for me?” Anne squeaked and Caius sighed in frustration.

“We’d better get back,” he said.

“No, I’ll go on my own,” Anne said “I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

Caius opened his mouth but Anne shook her head furiously.  Without another word, she ran off, past Noctis and Nero who had also been searching for the blacksmith under the stress of Sephiroth’s rage.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little bit, Sephiroth?” Emperor Mateus sighed as Sephiroth stormed past him, searching for Anne “She might have gotten bored, went out for a walk, perhaps decided to test some weapons and armour.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Sephiroth said in a hard tone.

“Sephiroth!”

Both men whirled around and saw the youngest warrior of Chaos running towards them.  Sephiroth strode towards her and towered over her.

“Where have you been?” he asked fiercely, making the poor girl whimper and cower.

“W-Walk…” Anne stuttered out “I got lost, I’m sorry.  Kuja found me and told me that you were looking for me and…I’m sorry.”

“If you wanted a walk, I could have come with you for peace of my mind,” Sephiroth said as he sighed softly.

“Please, you’re not my bodyguard,” Anne sulked and folded her arms.

Sephiroth opened his mouth then hesitated and frowned.  Anne hadn’t stuck up for herself before…

“You didn’t run into any fights did you?” he asked slowly.

“No!” Anne shook her head.

Sephiroth snatched her bracer and glanced at it.

“Warm, it’s been used,” he said “You lied to me.”

Anne snatched her arm back.

“Practicing magic,” she said.

“For what?”

“In case I did get attacked.”

“Anne, stop lying to me,” Sephiroth gritted out.

It hurt, why did it hurt?

“You’re just not believing me!” Anne raised her voice, tears pooling in her eyes.

“You’ve changed…” Sephiroth stepped back as he remembered another memory “You…”

He turned away and gritted his teeth.

“Just don’t do it again,” he said as he walked away from her.

 

* * *

 

The flames consumed the village hungrily, devouring the bodies of both adults and children.  He stood in the centre, triumphant of his vengeance, taking in the wonderful scenery that was his work.  And then he saw her, beside a black-haired swordsman, hand covering her mouth in horror.  She was crying.  As the swordsman ran up towards him, she turned and ran away from him.  Each step she took away from him hurt and Sephiroth easily shoved the swordsman aside and called for her.

_“Anne!”_

_“Stay away!”_

Why?  Why would she run from him?  She only ever looked up at him with wonder and the innocent childish admiration glinting in her red eyes.  But now, all Sephiroth could see was betrayal, anguish and despair.  Why?


	6. Chapter 6

Another day had passed in the world where the soldiers of Chaos and Cosmos fought against each other.  Caius was returning to the Chaos territory after his clash with Noel, someone who had been a close friend to him in his world.  His head hurt from the memories of _her_ flooding back after their battle.  One of them stood out in particular.

* * *

 

He was with her in a garden of flowers.  He was protecting her as he always did with her and her previous incarnations.  She didn’t let on but he knew she had seen that today would be the day she would die and he would have to go on and find her successor.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been smiling so much and gone to all the effort to pick so many flowers.

 _“Caius,”_ she said in her final moments when she approached him with a small bunch of flowers _“Keep love in your heart.  For a life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.”_

And then she had her final vision, the vision that would whittle her life away completely.  She collapsed into his arms, the flowers scattering across the meadow when her limp hands loss their grip on them.  Caius was used to it but he still grieved at the sight of a young teenage girl, especially the girl to whom he adored, wither and expire before his very eyes.  He picked her up and couldn’t help but cradle her to his chest.  It was in those moments that the clouds fittingly covered the sun above them.

* * *

 

Caius was drawn out of his thoughts by an angry hammer slamming itself on an anvil.  He hadn’t realised he had walked over to Anne’s armoury.

“Stupid, stupid Sephiroth!” she was muttering between her swings “Getting angry like that!  As if I’m some delicate doll who isn’t capable of ha-OW!!!”

It was a very high-pitched whine which made the purple-haired swordsman cringe.  Caius slowly turned the corner to watch Anne jump up and down while holding her hand, hammer abandoned on the anvil with whatever she had been forging.

“Damn, the nail’s cracked!” she whimpered “So much blood, ow, ow, ow…”

Caius walked over and she didn’t notice him, even when he crossed her line of vision to pick up her first aid kit.  He took out the bandage roll and watch her pace up and down irritably, glaring at her hand as if it had been its fault that it got caught in between the hammer and anvil.  He took her hand and she screamed in surprise, slapping him around the face.  She gasped as he winced at the sting.

“I’m so sorry but you should really warn me if you’re going to sneak up on me!” Anne apologized and scolded in the same sentence.

“I’ve been here for five minutes, you didn’t notice me?”

Anne blushed in embarrassment and Caius came to the quick conclusion that she had been too caught up in her damaged hand.  She let him bandage her poor finger and he sat her down as she went back to her workstation.

“You should take it easy,” he said.

“But I want to get the actual shape done before the end of the day,” Anne whined.

“You can take a break,” Caius argued “And you should calm down, another finger may get broken if you forge in your current mood.”

Anne pouted and hung her head.  Caius sat down beside her, watching as she stroked the bandaged tip of her finger.

“What are you making?” he asked.

“A belt,” Anne replied “I thought Sephiroth would appreciate it.”

“Did something happen?”

“Yeah, my general bad mood and temper chased him away and I hope he didn’t get concussion from when I threw my tongs at him and hit his head.”

“Is there a reason to why you threw your tongs at him?”

Anne sighed and rubbed her bandaged fingertip again.  Caius slapped her hand away, telling her that it would make it worse if she continued fiddling with it.  Anne stuck her tongue out at him and hunched her shoulders.

“You both think I’m like a daisy, don’t you?” she sneered “I’m a little delicate daisy that can’t look after itself.”

“That’s not true, you weren’t a little delicate daisy yesterday,” Caius consoled her “You were more like a troublesome kitten.”

“Nyeh, that isn’t going to cheer me up, Caius,” Anne scowled.

“Kittens have claws, daisies don’t, does that make you feel better?”

Anne’s lips twitched and she smiled softly.  Caius then noticed the bandages on her arms and calves.

“Did you have more accidents today?” he asked.

“Hm?” Anne looked up at him then glanced down at her bandaged limbs “Oh no, these are battle wounds.”

“You went battling today?” Caius frowned.

“I wanted to test out these new swords and Weiss wields swords so I asked him to spar with me,” Anne shrugged “I wanted more memories too so two birds in one stone.”

“Did you get the memories you wanted?”

“No,” Anne frowned and shook her head “Not really.  I think one of them was the time I first met Sephiroth.  The other one was about that blonde swordsman.”

She burst out laughing suddenly which startled Caius.  He edged away from her discretely as she stopped to breathe in deeply.

“I was in this pretty dress but waiting in the lobby of some grand house,” she explained “I don’t know what I was waiting for but two people came in.  I recognized my friend, Aerith and the other was that swordsman.  They were both dressed in beautiful dresses and the swordsman looked so feminine and so embarrassed!”

Caius blinked as she began laughing again.

“So this swordsman…” he said as she wiped the tears “You must know him well enough to laugh at his situation.”

“Please, I laugh at any guy who wears a dress and pulls an embarrassed face like he did, as if he’d been caught peeping on someone,” Anne breathed “But he has appeared in two of my memories so far.  Maybe I did know him closely.”

They froze when Gabranth stepped around the corner and Anne stood.

“May I help you?” she asked.

“I’m here to pick up my blades.”

“Oh yes!”

Anne turned to pick up the dual blades that lay on the counter.  She scurried up to him, handing them to him.

“I tested them earlier, they should be fine against fire and ice magic,” she said as he admired them briefly before turning away “You’re welcome!”

She huffed as he marched off and folded her arms.

“Seriously,” she muttered.

“Sephiroth is making his way here,” he announced before he disappeared around the corner.

Caius sighed as he felt as if that had been directed to him.  Anne seethed and marched back to the counter.  Caius raised an eyebrow at the katana she picked up, nearly matching Masamune’s length and adopted a ‘ready to kill the stupid one winged angel’ pose.

“Are you considering to battle with him?” Caius asked.

“He is hiding something from me, that’s one of the reasons he probably doesn’t want me to battle,” Anne growled.

Her eyes narrowed determinedly as Caius opted not to attempt to change her mind whilst she had a dangerous weapon.  As soon as black boots came into view…

“Charge!” Anne yelled as she went hurtling down, her katana glinting with the promise that blood would be shed.

Noctis jumped back in alarm and she gasped, tripping over a random rock.  Caius barely managed to conceal a smirk as he dropped his forehead to his hand.

“Oh, sorry, I thought you were Sephiroth,” Anne said meekly as Noctis bent down and picked up the fallen katana.

“Why are you trying to kill Sephiroth?” he asked slowly whilst examining the katana curiously.

“Not trying to kill, probably give him a couple of scratches but I want to fight him,” Anne pouted as she got up and dusted herself down.

“You sure you want to do that?” Noctis raised an eyebrow “He is pretty powerful.”

“He wouldn’t hurt me,” Anne shrugged.

“How can you be so confident?”

“Because I’m a girl?”

Noctis raised his other eyebrow sceptically.  Anne frowned.

“What?” she asked.

“I’ve heard that he has killed a girl before,” Noctis replied “He killed her in cold blood in order to get what he wished.”

“And just pray tell, Caelum,” a dark voice purred “Where did you happen to come upon this information?”

Anne jumped when Sephiroth’s face appeared at Noctis’s shoulder.  Noctis stared ahead unflinchingly, however Anne saw he swallowed harshly.

“Rumours,” he said and handed Anne her katana back “I guess my sword can wait until tomorrow.  Please, excuse me.”

He turned and walked away.  Sephiroth smirked sadistically and looked down at Anne.  His sadistic smirk turned into a soft smile as he took in her youthful features, marred with burns and bandages.

“Have you calmed down now?” he asked.

The swift movement of the katana coming up to his chin was his answer.  He stepped back as Anne narrowed her eyes.

“You’re hiding something from me,” she said determinedly “What is it?  Spit it out!  I have to know!”

“Anne, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sephiroth said as he snatched the katana and guided the blade away from him.

“There’s a reason why you don’t want me to get my memories back and I want to know now!”

Sephiroth paused and suddenly swept Masamune between them.  The katana Anne was holding went flying until it buried itself into the ground.  Caius stood from his place, hand on the handle of Chaos’s Revenge as Anne fell down, eyes watering in disbelief.  Sephiroth stepped back warily, narrowing his eyes.

“What do you remember, Anne?” he asked “What do you remember after coming into conflict with me?”

“My father…” Anne whispered and Caius saw Sephiroth tense uneasily “He’s dead…someone killed him.”

She shook her head and stared at the ground.

“I don’t remember…I don’t remember who killed him.”

Caius narrowed his eyes as relief washed over Sephiroth’s face.  The ex-general knelt down and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Not all of your memories are going to be pleasant,” he said “That’s why it’s best to remember as little as possible.”

“But!”

“Now please, drop the subject,” Sephiroth pleaded softly “So many horrible things have happened in our world before and I don’t want you to get upset over them.”

Anne gritted her teeth and nodded.  Caius withdrew his hand from Chaos’s Revenge and strode past them, giving Sephiroth a pointed look as he passed.  Anne was right.  Sephiroth was definitely hiding something.


	7. Chapter 7

Caius turned the corner to see Seifer standing at Anne’s armoury, waiting with his arms folded and an impatient scowl.  Anne was nowhere to be seen.

“Is Anne not here then?” he asked with a confused frown.

“Nah, I’ve been waiting here for half an hour,” Seifer replied.

“Strange, you’ve not seen her around?”

Seifer shook his head and Caius’s confused look turned thoughtful.

“I wonder where she could be then…”

“Where is she?”

Seifer glanced at Sephiroth lazily as Caius turned to see the ex-general had arrived, carrying a small pouch.

“No idea,” Caius replied “You haven’t seen her today at all?”

“Just this morning,” Sephiroth replied “She was tending to your gunblade that you left behind when I went to go to Cosmos’s territory.”

“She might be testing it,” Caius suggested.

Sephiroth hummed suspiciously and his eyes fell on a small box on Anne’s bench.  He walked up to it and opened it, revealing Seifer’s gunblade.

“No, she finished,” he said and jerked his head for Seifer to take it and leave.

The swordsmen watched the SeeD member walk away and Caius eyed the pouch in Sephiroth’s hands.

“Materials for Anne,” Sephiroth answered his unasked question “From Cosmos’s territory.  Apparently that’s why and where you took her the other day.”

“She told you then?”

“Kuja told me.”

Caius swallowed softly.

“Maybe that’s where she’s gone to,” he said and caught Sephiroth’s narrowed eyes “She might have gotten lost along the way, perhaps if we went to look for her…”

“Or worse, she could be lying in a pool of her own blood,” Sephiroth said venomously and tossed the pouch onto the bench.

“She isn’t incapable of battling, Sephiroth, give her some credit.”

“She’s barely eighteen and you know how accident prone she is, I don’t want to risk anything.”

“Yes, she is a bit…clumsy and doesn’t think before acting but she can look after herself.  I hope.”

Caius mentally winced when he realised that didn’t really convince Sephiroth at all.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, magenta eyes took in the scene from around the corner.  Nero then turned and dashed off to where Weiss was.

“No good, Sephiroth’s there and he’ll probably skip to a conclusion if he sees us.”

“Damn it,” Weiss hissed and turned away “Then let’s get back to our camp, these bandages aren’t going to hold for much longer.”

In his arms, he held a bloodied and bruised Anne.  She was unconscious from her injuries, cuts marring her youthful face.  Nero glanced over his shoulder and froze when he saw Sephiroth coming this way, Caius following him.

“They’re coming this way, we need to hide!” he hissed.

“Where do you suppose we try and hide, idiot?” Weiss hissed back and looked around “Sephiroth has mako-enhanced senses, remember?  We can’t hide in the shadows from him!”

“Is there a problem?”

Weiss and Nero jumped as a tall figure loomed over them.

 

* * *

 

“You’re overprotective, of course she’s not going to listen to all your orders,” Caius reasoned.

“She knows that it’s for her own good,” Sephiroth argued.

“Sephiroth, I have seen her fight, she isn’t weak and vulnerable,” Caius grabbed Sephiroth’s soldier and didn’t flinch as he whirled around to glare at him “You don’t want her to recover any more of her memories.  You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

“It is none of your business,” Sephiroth pushed Caius’s hand off him “You have your own battles to fight.  You are not from our world, leave this alone.”

“Gentlemen,” Golbez nodded as he walked past them.

Caius would have alerted Golbez that Anne wasn’t in her armoury if he hadn’t been too caught up in the argument and paid attention to where Golbez was going.

“It’s cruel to keep something from the person you care for,” Caius argued.

“Speaking from personal experience?” Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

 

* * *

 

Golbez gave another glance over his shoulder and then lay Anne down on her bench from where he had concealed her unconscious body in his cloak.  Weiss and Nero fell out of his cloak too after clinging onto him from behind.

“I didn’t think that would actually work,” Weiss commented as Golbez took Anne’s first aid kit and began patching her wounds up properly.

“What happened to this poor girl anyway?” Golbez asked as he eyed the bullet wounds and cuts.

“We just found her struggling against that girl Kefka loves to mess around with,” Nero replied “Our brother saw her first and rushed to the girl’s aid.”

“That’s why there’s a bullet wound in her shoulder, hip and thigh, he wields a triple barrelled gun,” Weiss explained.

“The other wounds are probably from a different battle, she didn’t have any injuries that had been from magic.”

“I guessed that she might have gone to collect materials for forging but she left her satchel here.”

“Hmm…” Golbez hummed as he finished tending Anne wounds and stood up “Does she normally go off to fight Cosmos’s warriors?”

“No, the only time she ever fights is to test out new weapons and armour,” Weiss replied “But she was using her own weapons and Materia when we found her.”

“She probably went to go and gather new memories,” Nero suggested “I heard from Sephiroth that she wants to restore as many memories as possible from her past.”

“Well why didn’t she go and get someone to go with her?” Golbez asked.

“Probably because she doesn’t trust anyone to let her,” Weiss shrugged.

Anne groaned in her sleep and stirred but didn’t wake up.

“You do realise you can’t hide this from Sephiroth,” Golbez stated.

“Well we’re not sticking around to have Sephiroth see us with her and put two and two together,” Nero shrugged “Come on, Weiss, let’s get out of here.”

Golbez sighed as the brothers left the armoury, leaving him alone with the blacksmith.  The Lunarian didn’t wish to leave the young girl alone so he stood watch over her, deciding to explain to Sephiroth what had happened if he decided to return.  As she slept, Anne kept shifting and dreaming, remembering the memories that she had collected.


End file.
